Separating apparatus



1950 F. B. SCHILLING SEPARATING APPARATUS Fiied July 29, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 P5653085 R6UL A TING INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS Nfl 1950 F. B. SCHILLING SEPARATING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 29, 1947 ATTOR NEYS INVENTOR.

Patented Nov. 14, 195i) SEPARATING APPARATUS Frederick 13. Schilling, Manhasset, N. Y., assignor to Nichols Engineering & Research Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application July 29, 1947, Serial No. 764,370

1 Claim. 1 This invention relates to improved systems and methods for continuously separating relatively heavy, coarse or compact undesired particles or objects from liquid or liquid mixtures such, for example, as fibrous pulp suspensions, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for continuously eliminating gravitated foreign matter, without disturbance of the continuous separatin operation.

In the paper industry, and the like, wherein valuable solid content or fibre particles carried in suspension are required to be separated out from dirt, foreign matter and particles in general of a heavier gravity, vortex separators of well known types are employed capable of handling large quantities while settling out the heavier particles. Such particles are received in a discharge chamber, which gradually accumulates the heavier particles.

In such apparatus, the operation of the vortex separator is not disturbed by the quiescent accumulation of heavier particles in the closed discharge chamber, but the emptying of such discharge chamber, as is required from time to time, disturbs'the separator operation and may necessitate rendering its operation discontinuous.

The present invention provides an apparatus and method for eliminating the settled heavier tus and methods for the continuous elimination of the settled particles and foreign objects, which shall be capable of handling the elimination, regardless of the nature of the foreign objects, in a substantially continuous manner free from the disturbance of the continuous separator apparatus proper.

In accordance with a preferred example of the invention, a rotary valve mechanism is provided in combination with a-waste chamber and suitable water admission in connection therewith for substantially continuous controlled and measured passage of wastewithout disturbing, in any substantial respectthe settling qualities of :the waste receiving chamber.

- The above and other features of the invention will appear more fully-from the following detailed description when taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is expressly understood, however, that the drawings are employed for purposes of illustration only and are r not designed "as a definition of th 'limits of'the In the drawings, wherein like reference characters indicate like parts:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a single separating unit having the invention applied thereto; i

Fig. 2 is an elevational view showing the application of the invention in one of its alternative forms, to a battery of separating units;

Fig. 3 is a section taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a detail view in section of a form of the rotary valve employed in the system.

Referring now to the drawings in further detail, a vortex type of separatin device is indicated at I 0, which may be of the construction shown, for example, in U. S. patent to Freeman, No. 2,102,525. This device may include a tangentially arranged inlet as at H for the stock to be treated, a central discharge outlet I: at the top through which the treated stock is conducted away, and a discharge outlet H3 at the bottom through which the heavy or more compact particles' to. be separated from the stock are discharged. As disclosed in said patent, the stock entering at the inlet H, such for example as a mixture of paper pulp, water and the material to be separated therefrom, first passes downward in the cylindrical portion of the device II) as a downwardly travelling outer vortex, and near the bottom of this cylindrical chamber the vortex reverses and continues as an inner vortex up to the mouth of the outlet l2. As further disclosed in said patent, reference to which is hereby made.

' the cylindrical portion of the device It) may be to settle down through a sight glass l6, thence through a' gate type shut-off valve I'L into a fitting l8. The fitting it may be merely a straight section of conduit if only oneof the separating devices lll'is being'used, but if two or 'more of such devices are being used at an adjacent positiomthe fitting. Ill may'h'ave a branch or branches as at 18a ior"connect ion to thedirt discharge outlets of the'other. separating units.

The fitting 18 at 'its'lower end-communicates with the inlet'of a, special rotaryfvalve l the construction of which isshown in furtherdetail in Fig. 4. This valvemay comprise a horizontal chamber portion!!! along the axis of which a vaned type of valve assembly may be mounted 3 upon a rotatable shaft 2| connected to be slowly turned, for example at about 1 R. P. M., as by a motor 22, including such reduction gearing as may be necessary. In the valv l9 an arcuate inlet opening to the cylindrical chamber is provided at 23, this openin being brought into communication with the fitting l8 by a chamber portion 24 formed integrally, if desired, with the cylindrical chamber 20. An arcuately shaped outlet 25 is provided at the lower side of the cylindrical chamber portion 20 for the discharge of the separated heavy particles or objects through a bottom chamber portion 24a through which the rejected material is discharged to a suitable waste pipe connection 26.

The rotatable valve assembly, as shown in Fig. 4, may comprise a plurality of vanes as at 21, six of these vanes being here shown by way of example, mounted in tangential positions on a hexagonal hub portion 28, fixed to the shaft 2|. These vanes may comprise metal plates as at 29, which are of such shapes and dimensions that their outer edges will be spaced substantially both from the end walls of the cylindrical chamber 20 and from the cylindrical wall portion. However, layers of suitable flexible material such as rubber, laminated with fabric if desired, are affixed upon each of the vanes 29 as by rivets 3| and clamping plates 32. These rubber elements extend out from the vanes 29 at the outer end and side edges thereof into firm contact with the walls of the cylindrical chamber 20 and serve to seal the vanes with respect to such walls, except at the inlet 23 and the outlet 25, and except momentarily when any large objects such as bottle caps or other pieces of metal may become lodged against the vanes. In some cases it may also be desirable to rubber line the interior of the valve casing to provide more resiliency and, at the same time, be more resistant to abrasion.

The arcuate wall portion 33 between the inlet 23 and outlet 25 is preferably so made as to extend circumferentially for a distance somewhat greater than that between successive vanes so that, in normal operation of the valve, there will at no time be any opportunity for liquid to flow freely through the valve. Instead the material will be discharged in successive batches, each batch being of a volume equivalent to the volume of the space between each successive pair of vanes.

If desired, the conduit portion 24 may be formed integral with a deflector portion 34 which will act to deflect any large solid objects in a cavity between successive vanes at a time prior to the amount at which either of these vanes reaches the edge of the portion 33 thus preventing such objects from jamming between that portion of the edges of the vanes.

As indicated in Fig. 1, provision is made for introducing, at a point above the valve l9, for instance at an inlet opening 35 in the fitting I9, a quantity of water to compensate for the loss of liquid through the valve l9 to thereby avoid any undesirable disturbance of the portion of the separating device Ill as would occur if substantial amounts of liquid were constantly being discharged from its lower end without replacement.

The liquid introduced at 35 is preferably supplied under a constantly regulated pressure, for instance through a pressure regulating valve 35 connected with thefitting l8 as by conduit 31, including a shut-oil valve 33.

There is also preferably provided another conduit 33 running from the pressure regulating valve into the discharge conduit for the separating device at a point above the shut-ofl valve H, for example into a T fitting as at 40, located Just below the sight glass 16. This conduit 39 may also have a shut-ofl valve as at H. In cases where this equipment is used, for example, for th cleaning of so-called rough paper stock, including various grades of waste paper or of corrugated paper waste, for example, the main cylindrical portion of the separating device it may, for example, be of a diameter of from 8 to 10 inches and the stock may be pumped into the inlet H at a pressure such that for example 800 to 1250 gallons per minute will pass into the separator and with substantially the same volume of treatedstock passing out through the top outlet l2. In initially starting the operation of the separator, the gate valve 11 will ordinarily be closed, and at this time a small amount of water may be introduced through connection 39 to "back-wash the separator unit so that the first onrush of stock will not tend to clog or block the separator within or adjacent the cone portion l5. After this first rush of stock, the valve 11 may be opened, and while the rotary valve is is being operated by the motor 22, a sutlicient quantity of water is admitted through the connection 31 to substantially compensate for the loss through the valve I9. If desired, the valve 4| in connection 39 may then be closed, but usually it will be found preferable to continue to admit a small amount of water through the connection 39 t dilute somewhat the liquid containing the undesired material, before it passes down through the remainder of the equipment, and also to supplement the water admitted through connection 31. Suflicient water may be introduced through the connection 39, for example, so that there will be no noticeable downward how of liquid at the sight glass l6 and the liquid will be in a sufiiciently static condition so that the undesired material will settle therethrough without any up-rising currents at the sight glass sufficient to interfere with such settling.

It is important in maintaining these conditions to supply the water through connections 31 and 39 at a regulated pressure, With a separating device of the size and capacity above stated, for example, and with a valve 20 having a rotor of about 9 inches radius and a length of about 5 inches, it was found satisfactory to introduce the water from a pressure regulating valve 36 at a pressure of about 25 pounds per square inch. 0peration of the equipment under these conditions has been satisfactorily carried on with pulp hav-- ing a consistency of from 0.2 to 1 With the valve 20 rotating at 1 R. P. M. it was found desirable to introduce from 10 to 12 gallons perminute of water through the connections 31 and 39, the greater part of this water being introduced through the connection 31 to cause a downward flow in the fitting l8, and with little or noticeable fiow at the sight glass l6 In Figs. 2 and 3 an arrangement is shown adapted for connecting three or more of the separators It to a single set of apparatus for disposing of the waste. Here a water connection 45 runs from a source of supply through a pressure regulating valve 46 and discharges through shutoil valves as at 41 and connections as at 48, respectively into fittings 49 at the waste discharge outlets of the separators Ill. The water supply connections 43 may serve a function corresponding to the connection 39. referred to in Fig. 1.

From the fitting l3 waste is discharged through waste receiving tank 53.

gate valves as at 50, sight glasses as at 5|, thence through T fittings as at 52 and into a common If desired, at the T fitting 52, small amounts of the pulp suspension may be drawn off through connections as at 54 to a header 55. This header, as indicated, may run to a pump and white water supply, which in turn may be connected to secondar separating equipment operating, if desired, according to principles disclosed, for example, in the U. S. patent to Freeman, No. 2,312,706. The connections 54 may each include an orifice device as at 50 and a shut-off or adjusting valve, as at El, to control the percentage of the material flowing down from the separators l0, which is to be passed off through the header 55 for a secondary separating treatment.

It is contemplated that the greater part of the material ejected from the separator end,

however, will pass down into the chamber or tank 53, in which there may be provided a rotatable screw conveyor as at62 driven from any suitable source of power applied for example to pulley 63 mounted upon a shaft 64 which carries the screw conveyor and extends through suitable stuifing boxes at the ends of the tank 53, This screw conveyor is arranged to cause the waste material such as sand, grit and foreign solid objects to be discharged through a rotatable outlet valve as at 19a of a construction the same as described above in connection with Fig. 4. A header 65 extends along one side of the tank 53 and is connected to a source of water supply through a pressure regulating valve 66, this header being connected by a pluralit of pipes 67 approaching at spaced points into the tank 53, these pipes having straight outlets as at 68 for discharging water upwardly and downwardly into the mixture in the tank 53 for purposes corresponding to the supply of water through connection 31 in Fig. 1 and for also aiding in insuring that the dirt and waste will be properly advanced by the conveyor to the valve l9a.

While the invention has been described in detail with respect to particular preferred examples, it

' will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and it is intended, therefore, in

directed annular vortex of the suspension and from which the suspension passes upwardly as an inner vortex to a restricted outlet; allowing such relatively heavy particles to settle from the lower ends of said vortices through an enclosed body of liquid maintained under pressure; removing from the lower region of said body of liquid a continuous succession of preselected volumetric increments of liquid having therein such relatively heavy particles, such removal being at a rate equal to a relatively small percentage of the rate of flow of the liquid suspension through said chamber; and adding auxiliar liquid to said enclosed body of liquid at a region above the point of such removal of heavy particles, such addition of auxiliary liquid being continuous at a regulated rate and pressure in an amount substantially to compensate for said increments of material removed, to maintain relatively quiescent conditions in such liquid into which such particles settle from the vortices. I

FREDERICK B. SCHILLING.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,023,750 Morcher Apr. 16, 1912 2,102,525 Freeman Dec. 14, 1937 2,312,706 Freeman Mar. 2, 1943 2,352,154 Walter June 20, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 390,832 Germany Mar. 3, 1924 265,112 Great Britain Feb. 3, 1927 288,546 Italy Sept. 12, 1931 

